The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) has set up a climate change portal (climate.aib.org.uk) as part of its social media campaign to attract voters to the People’s Choice category at the annual 2010 AIBs international media excellence awards). The AIBs will be presented in London on 9 November.
The People’s Choice is a new category at the annual broadcasting awards and allows online viewers to choose their favourite entry and vote for it. This year the award will be given for “Best Coverage of Climate Change”. Shortlisted entries will be made available to view online from 20 September and viewers from around the world will start voting for their favourites and spreading the word to their friends. Latest news on the voting process can be found at www.theaibs.tv/peoples-choice/view-and-vote
The climate change portal, powered by technology from UltraKnowledge , automatically pulls in and links the latest news and opinions on climate change from news sources and blogs across the Internet. It allows visitors to check out trending topics and move easily between articles which contain the same keywords. It includes a “newswall” which gives a visual snapshot of stories by date and a different way of browsing for interesting content. The portal will include special features and information that draw visitors to the People’s Choice viewing and voting – so it will not only provide a valuable source of information for those interested in following the discussions and latest research on climate change but will also attract a large audience to vote for select the “Best Programme on Climate Change” for the 2010 AIBs.
The portal is currently in its initial version with additional content and enhancements being developed. As a not-for-profit organisation, the AIB is looking for support to build this innovative information tool. It will provide an excellent platform for a sponsor to show their commitment to the climate change debate. It uses technology which can automatically index and aggregate content on any given topic. This technology has already been used on the websites of a number of magazines and newspapers and can easily be adapted to
work with audio or video content.
“The AIB climate change portal demonstrates how content can automatically and rapidly be cross-indexed and tagged, allowing visitors to follow interesting threads,” explains Simon Spanswick, AIB CEO. “It has tremendous potential for broadcasters who have vast archives of material which they struggle to utilise in the most profitable way. So alongside using the portal for building the audience of the People’s Choice award, we are also encouraging our members to investigate the potential of this approach for their own content.”
The People’s Choice is one of 16 categories at the 2010 AIBs, the international media awards. Full details of the award categories, judging and information on the awards ceremony can be found on www.theaibs.tv.
The 2010 AIBs are sponsored by: 1GOAL (“Education for All”), ADB (Advanced Digital Broadcast), Bloomberg Television and Eurosport. The 2010 AIBs will be presented at a gala evening in London on 9 November.
